[Build Log] Budget AMD for gaming

Hey guys, so long story short my laptop died and its 800 bucks to fix since its a macbook so I decided to go back to windows and also build my own PC instead. Since this was unexpected and I don't make a ton of money to begin with I'm on a pretty tight budget but it's already been 3 weeks and using an Ipad as your only computer is pretty terrible after about a day. I've already bought a monitor, windows, ram, psu and a mouse so this is everything else I need. Going to Microcenter so I can save $40 off the mobo and cpu.

I'll be using this mostly for gaming but I work at a production company and will probably end up doing some light video editing as well, really just trying to learn a couple new programs to put on my resume no heavy duty stuff for clients. Open to suggestions but I've done a lot of research and am pretty set on most of this stuff.

CPU: FX 4100 but I'm still kind of deciding. Heard the 965 BE is better for gaming but FX may be better for video editing. Either way those two chips the 1045t and a 6100 are the chips in my price range and I'm kind of just hoping something is sold out so they decide for me. $100-$120

Mobo: Asus m5a99x evo. This is the one part I'm trying not skimp on as I plan on overclocking and hopefully having the money to buy a higher end piledriver in a few months. Open to cheaper suggestions. $140

GPU: HD 7770 I'm really just looking to run most current games in 1080p on medium to high settings. $140

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB adding an SSD will probably be my first upgrade $85

Case: HAF 912 $60

Cooler: Hyper 212 evo. $36

Already have

PSU: OCZ 600w modxstream

Memory: 8gb gskill ripjaws

Windows 7, an optical drive and a 23" monitor

So that's what I'll be putting together looking at spending under $550 for the rest of those parts. If you guys have any suggestions I'm open but budget is an issue and I really don't want to spend anymore. Thanks and unless something changes hopefully I'll have some posts and pictures on Saturday.

Awesome, thanks so much for the info Fred. That 970-ud3 is in stock at the microcenter near me so looks like I'll save myself some money and switch to that. I was bored at work and found a way to make the money work to buy Saturday since I'm approaching a month without a real computer at home and I hate it. I'm home now and thinking clearly and and It's not worth it go Saturday when if I wait just one more week I can do the 7850, even if the Steam sale did just start and the pack deals are ridiculous. The 7850 was my original choice but I wanted to cheat and buy right now so the the 7770 seemed like a solid alternative for a good amount less.

Thanks for the tip dawg but honestly I just don't think I'd notice the difference even if I could afford it and went to the 8120. I did a little bit of building and took an a+ course in high school so I'm not a complete noob but that was about 8 years ago and everything is so different I'm basically starting over. Got a laptop when I went to college and I've been using them ever since so the other reason for the budget is this is my first desktop in years. Just looking for something to learn on for awhile and actually overclock my cpu and mess with everything again and once I relearn how everything works and see how it performs for myself then I'll start making upgrades with higher end parts if I think they would help.

So right now I think I'm going to go with the 6100, the 970A UD3 and then the 7850. Still keeping the mobo on the cheap side. I dont really factor in mail in rebates since I'm still paying up front for it now then hopefully getting something back in 2 months so it looks like $240 is the best price I see for the 7850. Also, pooooooossssibly a Storm Enforcer case, it's only $20 more and I think it looks way better, especially since I never loved the look of the 912. It's ok but the reviews were just so good it seemed like the way to go.

Well it was a couple weeks delayed but I went to Microcenter and picked up the mobo and cpu and built it all on Saturday. Works great and I think it booted up on the first try but I was using an old HDMI cable and nothing came up on the monitor. Switched to DVI for now and it's working great. Still waiting for my cooler to arrive so I just have to stock cooler for now. I got impatient and bumped it up to 4.3 Ghz today and it's running great so far, survived some intel burn testing but it gets pretty warm so I'll wait to go higher until I have better cooling. Hadn't played league of legends until this weekend and got pretty hooked on that right away so I've been playing a lot of that and haven't really seen how it performs gaming wise besides a couple Left 4 Dead 2 games which looked great.

Really happy with how everything is working out, the 7770 is a little weak but it'll do for now and maybe in a couple months I'll look at a 7850 and they'll be a little cheaper.